Posts Tagged "inspiration"

While many of our blog posts offer product design and product development insight and information, we have decided to turn the tables a bit for this post and ask our readers for their input. We want to delve into the topic of inspiration. We all find different things inspiring—this is what helps motivate us to push the design boundaries and think outside of the proverbial box. When it comes to designing a consumer product, we always want to be on the cutting edge and engage customers with all aspects of the design—from the product design to the packaging.

Inspiration comes in many forms and from everywhere… So now we pose the question to you:

When you are looking for inspiration, before you begin your next design challenge, where do you turn?

Below are a few places where we find inspiration. They help excite us for our next design project and remind us to continually challenge ourselves while pushing the boundaries of design.

Nature. What is more inspiring than nature? Nature is the ultimate innovator. Interesting shapes, materials and forms—can be found in nature and continue to inspire engineers.

Product design websites. With a simple click of a button you can be inundated with all different types of design work and renderings. Objects that many people see as mundane and ordinary are reimagined (fruit bowl, lightbulbs, and keyboards) and you can browse thousands of these wonderful designs online.

Your portfolio (past projects). Looking back often inspires us for the future. Projects that we completed years ago still provide us with insight and inspiration.

Design and engineering books. Whether they are textbooks from college or design books you picked up at a local bookstore, they seem to always inspire. Books have a way of bridging the past with the future, and in themselves are quite inspirational.

We would love to know what inspires some of your best work! Please leave it as a comment below.

“To be inspired is great, to inspire is incredible.”

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3D Innovations is a Product Development Company – from the 3D Design to a fully functional 3D Prototype & Product.

Throughout life we are each inspired by different things…some of us are inspired by a certain professor while others of us are inspired a quest for answers and knowledge…while our inspiration comes from different places, it instills in us a universal drive to succeed. We wanted to reach out to our parents, teachers and educators with this blog post to learn a bit as to how they work to inspire students. How do you light the inspiration spark in students? To take it a bit further, How do you inspire students in STEM fields?

We have come up with some ways in which we have seen students become inspired throughout their educational journey.

Hands-on Activity: We have seen this time and time again, when students are able to actively participate in the classroom we see them become fully engaged with the material. Our educational company, 3D Academy, works with schools and after-school programs to provide interactive education opportunities with 3D CAD, prototyping and 3D printing and each time we actively engage with the students we see their eyes light up because we are using a teaching model that emphasizes trial-and-error rather than lectures.

Field Trips: It is no secret that students love getting out of the classroom and exploring. Whether it is a class field trip or a family trip to the local science museum you see students learning and becoming inspired.

Group Competitions: Robotics competitions are everywhere these days, and what is more powerful than coming together with fellow students to design and build an actual robot? Answer: Nothing. Students become inspired by seeing their work come to life and these kind of competitions often lead students into future STEM careers.

Mentors: Mentoring a student is a very powerful way of helping them see the “cool” side of STEM careers. Having this one-on-one contact with a student allows them to get any questions they have answered and your influence might just be the inspiration they were needing.

Please leave a comment on this blog post with your own ideas about inspiring students, and we will grow the list together!

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3D Innovations is a full service 3D Engineering/Design company – from the 3D Design to a fully functional 3D Prototype & Product.